Twitter has sharply escalated its battle against fake and suspicious accounts, suspending more than 1 million a day in recent months, a major shift to lessen the flow of disinformation on the platform, according to data obtained by The Washington Post.

The rate of account suspensions, which Twitter confirmed to The Post, has more than doubled since October when the company revealed under congressional pressure how Russia used fake accounts to interfere in the U.S. presidential election. Twitter suspended more than 70 million accounts in May and June, and the pace has continued in July, according to the data.

The aggressive removal of unwanted accounts may result in a rare decline in the number of monthly users in the second quarter, which ended last week, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak. Twitter declined to comment on a possible decline in its user base.

Twitter’s growing campaign against bots and trolls – coming despite the risk to the company’s user growth – is part of the ongoing fallout from Russia’s disinformation offensive during the 2016 presidential campaign, when a St. Petersburg-based troll factory was able to use some of America’s most prominent technology platforms to deceive voters on a mass scale to exacerbate social and political tensions.

The extent of account suspensions, which has not previously been reported, is one of several recent moves by Twitter to limit the influence of people it says are abusing its platform. The changes, which were the subject of internal debate, reflect a philosophical shift for Twitter. Its executives long resisted policing misbehavior more aggressively, for a time even referring to themselves as “the free speech wing of the free speech party.”

Well good for Twitter.

I have to say that they extremely slow to recognize any problem and take action, but at least it appears that they now recognize the importance of controlling propagandists and those who spread misinformation.

Hopefully, they will continue to stay vigilant and take down any accounts that attempt to undermine or sabotage our upcoming elections.

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This blog is dedicated to finding the truth, exposing the lies, and holding our politicians and leaders accountable when they fall far short of the promises that they have made to both my fellow Alaskans and the American people.

10 Comments

No one ever touted Palin as being the least bit bright except her followers of the same IQ level.

Anonymous
July 8, 2018 at 6:48 am

Russian Bots Linked To Viral Twitter Attacks On ‘Hateful’ Dems
Is this a preview of stepped-up activity before the midterm elections?

It what may be an early onslaught of Kremlin-linked Twitter attacks ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, Russia bots appear to be fueling a wave of criticism targeting Democrats over alleged intimidation in political confrontations and a lack of “civility,” according to bot trackers.

Attacks with the hashtag #WalkAway purport to be from a “grassroots” wave of one-time Democrats who have left the party in part because they say they are so incensed by the hateful and divisive behavior of party members. The message is to “walk away” from ugly confrontations, “intolerance” and hate — and from the Democratic Party.

But the hashtag has been connected to Russian bots. It has ranked as the third or fourth most popular Kremlin-linked hashtag for days, according to bot tracking by the Hamilton 68 site run by the bipartisan Alliance for Securing Democracy, which keeps tabs on Russian activity on the American internet.

Arc Digital has made the same connection in the “strikingly similar” tweets pushing a “familiar narrative” of Democratic “bullying.” Arc traced the campaign from a Facebook group in May and subsequent tweets whose traffic suddenly began to explode late last month.

Amplification of tweets by bots does not necessarily mean content is created by Kremlin-linked operators. But bots typically grossly exaggerate Twitter traffic — and influence — by replicating chosen messages tens of thousands of times.

The aim of such a campaign is to manipulate public opinion by “gaming online algorithms” to rocket content to the top of internet searches, noted Arc Digital.

“mounting a case that we’re dealing with a pathological cult.” “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” “The top priority i is keeping the troll epidemic from ending America before America ends ~IT~.”
“Chide relentlessly:Mock, deride, ridicule, tease, piss them off in an endless gusher. They like to have it both ways, that you fight unfairly and you don’t know how to fight. Show them that you know how to fight.”
“Don’t accuse, assume:Use the equivalent of that classic trick question posed to an unwed man, “How long ago did you stop beating your wife?” Bury you’re assertion as an assumption. Don’t say “You’re a liar” say “I wonder when and how this guy first figured out that he can give himself a headrush boner by lying. Was it that he never grew out of brat-hood or that he revived it when he started sucking off the tits of his new role models?””I’m sorry I can’t be your husband. You’ll always have Jesus though.” “Use their shaming words, not yours:They’re vaccinated against your shaming words but not their own. Call them sinners, unpatriotic, un-American, snowflakes, PC-police, the anti-Christ. Do so with feigned authority that matches theirs. Don’t even think about backing down.”{666pence the anti-Chri$T in waiting}
“Hit below the belt: Shame them with humiliating sexual innuendo. It infuriates them. Trolling is exhibitionist masturbation. It’s their horny lust for right-wing pundits. It’s fantasy about swinging a big dick. Feel free to make them fEEl
dirty and low.” >{Proving whose dick is bigger!} ” Real cleverness recognizes that the future is not known and reality WINs all debates. ”
“Trolls wouldn’t be able to empathize, making their opponent’s case convincingly if their lives dependent on it. They think their lives depend on not empathizing with you total libtard.” “There’s a right wing troll epidemic going on. Get good at thwarting them and we’ll have a better chance of avoiding civil WAR.”

““Deep State” and “Fake News” Are Against Their Friendship”<RiiiggghhhttT
"One “senior U.S. official” said that Putin often complains that the “fake news” and the “deep state” are conspiring against the two of them becoming friends. The senior official summarized Putin’s message to Trump: “It’s not us … It’s the subordinates fighting against our friendship.”" when Trump said Putin was “fine,” mocking those who say he is naive about how to best handle the Russian president. “I might even end up having a good relationship [with Putin], but they’re going ‘well, president Trump, be prepared, president Putin is KGB’, this and that,” he said at the rally. “Do you know what? Putin’s fine, he’s fine, we’re all fine, we’re people. Will I be prepared? Totally prepared. I have been preparing for this stuff my whole life, they don’t say that.” "Trump once again put his “fake news” obsession on display Saturday, questioning why Twitter doesn’t get rid of the accounts of some of the biggest U.S. news organizations now that it’s working to rid the network of fake accounts. “Twitter is getting rid of fake accounts at a record pace,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Will that include the Failing New York Times and propaganda machine for Amazon, the Washington Post, who constantly quote anonymous sources that, in my opinion, don’t exist – They will both be out of business in 7 years!”

You know those posters that you have to stare at awhile? Then your eyes are looking at all the hidden stuff on the poster? RUSSIA. In plain sight!

They are not happy their century long racket is being exposed, like ripping a wound off in slow motion. Painful!

Oh. But it’s about sex (baby factory?)
And then it’s about money (gold bars?)
Lastly, it’s about power (hahahaha)
I can breathe when I stop laughing.

You know, it has escaped me, on how humanity has allowed others, to invade the innocents of the world, and failure to fight to take back their territory, the safety and well being of the people’s.

Stop letting the creepy rich play war.
Cut off their evil heads like a snake!
Isn’t that what Putin fears the most?
Power of the People’s! Pay per view?

anonymous
July 8, 2018 at 11:20 am

Everything is about $eXxx, Bullying[power], MonEy.

What's up with that?
July 8, 2018 at 3:05 pm

I don’t know who told you that.
Do you believe everything you Hear? Or see? Things aren’t what they seem. Bursting that bubble.
Newbees of the world aren’t as stupid as past generations as to be brainwashed by nonsense.
They are half the world’s global population. They were born 20 years old and aren’t obsessed.
Sucks to be the group you brag about. They will be taken down.
I am glad I get to watch it and not be in it. Get em all kiddos. Wink.